


uhhh meow?

by TheGardenFairy



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Cats, Crack, Humor, M/M, Pets, The Author Regrets Nothing, jihoon regrets everything, the ships are subtle but they're there, they try to adopt a cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-12-28 10:40:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21135377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGardenFairy/pseuds/TheGardenFairy
Summary: "I don't want a cat." Jihoon declares the moment he enters the living room.Junhui and Wonwoo look at him judgmentally and Jihoon glares back. It is always the quiet ones that cause the most chaos.





	uhhh meow?

**Author's Note:**

> This is legitimately the best title I could come up with. Enjoy.

"I don't want a cat." Jihoon declares the moment he enters the living room and gets a grasp of the situation.

Junhui and Wonwoo look at him judgmentally and Jihoon glares back. It is always the quiet ones that cause the most chaos.

"But hyung, look how fluffy and adorable he is!" Mingyu coos at the little fur ball on his lap.

The kitten is cute indeed. It is brown and white with big slanted eyes that are kind of unique for a stray cat like this one. Soonyoung is looking at it with starry eyes from across the room, and Jihoon is certain that the only reason he isn't squishing the kitten already is that as a unit leader, he doesn't want to leave Seungcheol to be the only responsible one in the room.

"We can't keep a cat", the black-haired leader says, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"But look at how cute he is! We can name him Scoups Junior!" Mingyu insists.

"We are not naming the cat Scoups Junior", Seungcheol sighs.

"He's right Mingyu, it's too weird of a name", Jisoo agrees with him from the couch he is sitting at.

"Thank you! Wait, my name is also-" Seungcheol turns to look at him but Jeonghan interrupts them both from next to Jisoo.

"Let's just call him something basic, like Rocky. It will be the easiest to remember", he suggests.

"Rocky is a dog's name", Minghao points out from the kitchen. "Can we get a dog instead?"

"Yes!" Chan makes finger guns at him at the same time Seungcheol says 'no'.

Jihoon really doesn't want to be in this room anymore. He regrets leaving his bed so much. The only reason he is here in the first place is because he could hear the commotion all the way from his room downstairs. Apparently, Wonwoo and Junhui found an abandoned kitten at a park when they were out, and they had the _bright _idea to bring it back to the dorms.

"We can't get any pets, because we are busy with schedules most days and they would get lonely and depressed", Jihoon explains, and Seungcheol looks so thankful for the support.

"Right", Soonyoung agrees hesitantly.

It's so obvious that he too wants to keep the cat. Jihoon tries to hide a smile at how hard his fellow unit leader is trying to be responsible.

"Look, if you have the heart to throw this adorable little kitten back on the streets without food or water and now that winter is approaching, by all means do it", Jeonghan obviously tries to guilt trip Seungcheol.

That's always his first tactic and the times it actually works are disturbingly large in number. This time though, even if their leader looks like his heart just broke, he remains unmoved.

"The ones who brought it here will bring it back out", he says and crosses his arms on his chest.

"Hyung please! We can't just leave him to die! He is just a baby!" Chan approaches Seungcheol with a pouty face.

This is also a tactic. Jeonghan and Chan had been working on it together. If Jeonghan weakens Seungcheol's resolve first, then Chan can use his maknae privileges to deliver the finishing blow.

"Jihoon!" Seungcheol desperately calls for reinforcements.

"Do you want the cat to live a long miserable life in here, all alone and bored?" he tells Chan curtly, and that makes the boy halt on his steps.

Chan might be Jeonghan's secret weapon, but he is also the weaker link of the two. Jihoon turns to Jeonghan with a triumphant look, only to find the older already glaring at him. But this is war, and their dorms are the battlefield, so Jihoon doesn't feel bad for destroying his best strategy.

"Hyung, why are you so opposed to letting this cat stay with us? We will be here every night with him, and we can buy him toys and those climbing rope thingies to play with during the day!" Mingyu says to him, realizing that Jihoon is going to be harder to convince than Seungcheol.

For a dog person, Mingyu is so invested in keeping the damn thing. He is the one who is sitting on the floor with the kitten sprawled on his lap, with Wonwoo and Junhui at each side of him. Jihoon is certain that if by some miracle they do keep it, Mingyu will be the one who ends up feeding it and cleaning its litter box and generally taking care of it. If Jihoon was in his place, he would _definitely_ want the beast gone.

But then he notices how Wonwoo is giving him a thankful smile for the support and Jihoon immediately knows that this is a lost battle. There is no convincing Mingyu to make Wonwoo abandon the cat he brought home. He will never find the resolve to do that. And that's why it's the quiet ones who always hold all the power and are to be dreaded. In this war, Mingyu would have been an easy opponent if it wasn’t for Wonwoo.

"Look," Junhui gathers the attention at himself, "Wonwoo and I found the cat, we will be the ones to take care of it. You won't even realize it is here".

"Junhui, Wonwoo and I share a room. I will definitely notice", Seungcheol replies.

"Don't you like cats? Is that the problem?" Junhui makes sad eyes at everyone opposing his choice.

He is acting, Jihoon just _knows_ it. Give it a few more minutes, and he will shed actual tears. Junhui is a man of many talents. He might appear to be in his own little world most of the time, but he sure knows how to read the atmosphere when needed.

"Dogs are superior and you can't do anything to change my mind", Minghao pipes up from the kitchen and Junhui raises his eyebrows at him.

"Oh I can do _plenty_ of things to change your mind", his tone changes _completely_ from the previous pitiful one.

"What?" Minghao looks at him with furrowed eyebrows.

"_What?_" Junhui echoes innocently.

Jihoon feels a headache coming and he rubs his temples. Fuck this, it's too early to deal with his group members and their messes. Even if it is already 12 pm, it will always be too early. He needs a coffee, or ten. Where is the caffeine addicted Seungkwan with his infinite amount of coffee cups at hand when he needs him?

Oh yeah, on a schedule with Seokmin about singing or something.

"We can try keeping the kitten a few days, and if everyone is okay with it by then, we can officially adopt it. If not, we return it where we found it. Everyone agrees with that?" Jisoo ever so patiently tries to find some middle ground.

"That sounds-" Soonyoung begins with a smile.

"No", Jihoon abruptly interrupts.

"Yeah no, sorry hyung, we really can't keep it", Soonyoung's face falls.

He looks like a sad hamster, but a sad hamster that is forcing itself to stay on Jihoon's side, and that is something the vocal unit leader greatly appreciates. If he's a little fond of it too, that's a whole different story. There are a lot more important think about right now, like how his dumb group members decided to take care of a cat all of a sudden. _They can’t even take care of themselves, _Jihoon seethes as he watches Wonwoo struggling to fix the hoodie of his sweater that has turned inside out. Junhui has to reach over Mingyu to help him with it.

"Can we at least vote on it?" Jeonghan says and crosses his legs on the couch.

"It will prove nothing", Seungcheol tells him, but the other simply ignores him.

"All in favour of keeping the cat raise your hand!" Jeonghan says and raises his hand.

Predictably, Junhui, Wonwoo, Mingyu and Jisoo raise their hands as well. Unpredictably, Chan doesn't.

"You traitor!" Jeonghan points a finger at him once he spots his unraised hand.

"Don't look at me hyung, I don't want a depressed cat!" the boy raises his palms in surrender.

"Do you prefer depressed group mates?" Jeonghan narrows his eyes at him.

"I would never-" Chan tries to defend himself, but Seungcheol wraps an arm around his shoulder before he can finish.

"Don't make him feel guilty for picking the right side." their leader says protectively.

Jeonghan huffs and looks away. Jisoo places a hand on his shoulder to calm him down and turns to Seungcheol.

"Even if Chan chooses not to keep the cat along with you, Soonyoung, Jihoon and Minghao, we are still tied", he says.

"Why are we an even number? Are we missing someone apart from Seokmin and Seungkwan?" Soonyoung looks around the room.

Jihoon looks too. And yeah, someone is indeed missing.

"Where the heck is Hansol?" he asks.

"When I left our room he was still sleeping", Soonyoung realizes with wide eyes.

"Did he stay up late again watching memes?" Mingyu snorts.

"You bet he did. He was also speaking with that Tobi guy, I could hear muffled English until I fell asleep", Soonyoung confirms.

A collective sigh leaves everyone's lips. Hansol and his terrible sleeping habits. This boy is going places.

"Do we wake him up or...?" Soonyoung asks.

"I have an idea. Give me that cat", Minghao finally joins them and crouches down next to Mingyu.

"No. I don't trust you", Mingyu lifts the cat to his chest with a pout.

"Mingyu", Minghao warns.

"No! Mister Scoups Junior doesn't love that bad dog lover Minghao, does he?" Mingyu brings the kitten to his face and rubs their noses together. "No, of course he doesn't, you only love daddy Gyu, don't you baby? Maybe Wonu and Jun too, because they love you lots, but never uncle Minghao, he can't be trusted, okay little one?"

They all watch as Mingyu, a 1.86m man, babies the tiny kitten and okay, even Jihoon has to admit that it's a little cute. The kitten meows then, a high-pitched noise, and its paw touches Mingyu's cheek. The boy actually squeals.

"He is so cute!" he exclaims and squeezes the cat to his chest.

"Mingyu please, hand him over, I won't hurt him I swear", Minghao says again.

"Ugh fine", Mingyu relents, because he is weak like that. "What you do to him, I do to you." he says threateningly.

Minghao picks up the cat_ very_ carefully.

When it is secured on his chest, he slowly walks over to Hansol and Soonyoung's room. Everyone trails behind him quietly, to see what he is planning to do. Jihoon has a bad feeling about this.

Minghao opens the door and tippy toes all the way to Hansol's bed, kitten in his arms. He sidesteps two piles of clothes on the way, and throws Soonyoung a dirty look at the process. Their room is beyond messy at this point. Soonyoung tries to smile apologetically, but he looks more proud than sorry.

Hansol is really still sleeping, even with the inevitable commotion in the room. He is definitely going to be in for a surprise. Minghao slowly puts the cat down on his pillow, right next to his head. The hair of its tail tickles the boy's nose, and before Minghao can take two steps away, Hansol's eyes open and he is face to face with the kitten.

"Yo, is there a cat in front of me or am I still dreaming?" he says kinda scared.

"That's Mister Scoups Junior. Wanna keep him or not?" Minghao asks.

"Um. I'm assuming I'm still dreaming. A cat can't be our leader in real life", he says, and he looks like he is proud of himself for making that ‘logical’ deduction.

"Hansol it's a yes or no question", Jeonghan pipes up.

"I'm not answering anything to you without my lawyer. We've been through this before, dream Jeonghan hyung", Hansol says and hides his face behind the cat.

"...what?" Jeonghan mouths to Jisoo, extremely confused.

Jisoo just shrugs. Jihoon feels his headache return.

"Hansol you're not dreaming. Junhui and Wonwoo found a cat and brought it back here. We're not keeping it though", Seungcheol says.

"Aw come on!"

"We said we'd vote fair and square!"

"Hyung don't be like that!"

"What do you mean this is not a dream?"

The multiple protests come from all around Jihoon. Seungcheol isn't going down today, no matter what the others try. Jihoon is honestly proud and kind of impressed. The older is a great leader, firm, stable and unwavering, always dependable to lead them to the right path.

"Hyung", Wonwoo then speaks up for the first time and takes a step forward.

Jihoon narrows his eyes suspiciously. Wonwoo always means trouble. He usually has a silent, inexplicable power over everyone, and Jihoon is kind of scared of it. Especially when he decides to speak up only so late in this war.

"Do you want to hold him once? Just once", Wonwoo suggests to Seungcheol. "Hold him and pet him like Mingyu did for ten minutes. Then if you want, we can take him back."

Jihoon lets go of the breath he didn't know he was holding. Surely Seungcheol won't fall for something like this?

One hour later, the manager returns to the dorms with Seungkwan and Seokmin in a bright mood. The recording has gone well, the boys did good. He is definitely going to mention that in the next staff meeting.

They all walk upstairs and he opens the door of the upper dorm.

"What the-" Seungkwan says, and before the manager can see what got his eyes so wide, a wild Seungcheol appears at the doorstep.

"Manager hyung!" he cries, not even bothering to greet Seungkwan and Seokmin.

And... is that a kitten he is holding?

"Manager hyung, we found this kitty outside and it so soft and cute and cuddly and _soft _and it was all alone can we please keep it?" Seungcheol practically begs the dumbfounded manager.

"Uhh... Seungcheol I don't think...." the poor man tries to reason with him.

"Please, please, please, we promise we will take care of it to the best of our abilities!" Seungcheol looks at him with huge, pleading eyes.

The manager looks behind him in the room then. Mingyu holds Wonwoo in a death hug, while Junhui, Jisoo and Jeonghan are high fiving him. Minghao is in the kitchen, looking uninterested in the mess, and Soonyoung, Chan and Hansol, who is shirtless and with bedhead for some reason, are just awkwardly standing there. Soonyoung looks like he wants to join in the high fives, but he is fumbling with his hands to stop himself. It's his huge grin that betrays him.

And poor Jihoon is sitting cross legged on a couch, his hand firmly gripping the bridge of his nose. He looks beyond tired and disappointed.

"My gosh. We're gone for like three hours and you adopt a cat", Seungkwan enters the room. "And why are you shirtless?" he points at Hansol.

"Man, if this is a dream, why are you _not_?" Hansol mumbles.

Seungkwan doesn't look like he heard him. He quickly turns to the others.

"What's the kitty's name?" he asks with a glint in his eyes.

"Mister Scoups Junior!" Mingyu says happily.

"That's an unnecessary long name." Seungkwan deadpans.

"Long like the years we are going to spend together." Mingyu smiles hopefully at the manager.

"Can we actually keep the cat?" Seokmin excitedly asks him as well.

It's a very cute thing, all cuddled up in Seungcheol's sweater. The manager wonders why Jihoon looks like all his companies suddenly went bankrupt.

"Look", he steps inside the room and so does Seokmin, "I see how excited you all are about having a pet, but you have so many schedules, would you even be able to take care of it?" he asks sympathetically.

"But hyung, look at how small it is, we can't just throw it away to fend for itself!" Seungcheol pouts.

The manager hums thoughtfully. There are thirteen pair of eyes on him, anxiously waiting for his words. This suddenly feels like a kindergarten class and not the dorms of adult men with successful careers in entertainment. The manager's position is very delicate. He wants to let them down softly, but he doesn't know how.

He remembers how Mingyu cried when they passed by a stray puppy shivering in a corner with their car, but they were getting late for their flight and they couldn’t pick it up. The boy didn’t relax until Minghao made sure an animal shelter found it and took it in. Is there any way the manager can convince him and everyone else to not keep the cat without causing an uproar amongst them?

Suddenly, he has an idea.

"Look. My daughter's birthday is coming up in a few days. She always wanted a pet, and my wife and I have been thinking about getting her one this year that she is old enough to take care of it. How about you give me the cat, and I'll make sure it has a proper home from now on?" he suggests with crossed fingers behind his back.

There must be a god out there, because thankfully, all the members look at each other in silent acceptance.

"Alright then. Thank you", Seungcheol extends his hands and the manager catches the cat in his arms.

He patiently waits as most of the boys come to say goodbye to the animal. He swears he saw Junhui tearing up at some point.

"You'll still call him Mister Scoups Junior, right?" Mingyu asks hopefully when it's his turn to pet the cat one last time.

"Of course", the manager cringes a little at the name, but whatever makes Mingyu happy.

Wonwoo is the last to say goodbye, and the manager swears that this can't be the same emo boy he remembers from when they were trainees. They have all grown up so much, at least physically. The cat licks Wonwoo's hand and he only lets go of it when Mingyu pulls him away from the back of his sweater.

The manager leaves them after that, with a handful of cat, a number of a vet near his house he got from google and a mental list of all the things he needs to buy for his daughter’s new pet.

Seriously, what else is he going to do for these boys?

**Author's Note:**

> I got 100% of my inspiration for this from the kitten my boyfriend just adopted. It does nothing, just sleeps all day, but it's the most adorable thing I've ever seen TT.  
Anyway, thanks for reading, feedback is always welcome!


End file.
